1. Technology Field
The subject matter described herein relates generally to online services and, more particularly, to user content access management and control of user information residing in computer software.
2. Background Information
Online services are becoming more prevalent. Users of very young ages to very old ages are communicating with each other using one or more online services, as well as storing information and data online (e.g., storing and backing up data, sharing images and videos, etc.).
After online services are first used, however, users do not always continue to access the services. For example, a user may abandon or stop using one image sharing site and start using another image sharing site. A user may stop using a college-focused service after graduation from college. A user may die or be incapacitated and cease accessing online services.
When users stop accessing their online services, there is a need to determine what should happen to their accounts and data stored within those services. Some users may not want their accounts and the associated data to be wiped out or deleted after, they die, for example. A user (e.g., User A) may share his or her login information (i.e., user names and passwords) with another user (e.g., User B) to manage his or her accounts and/or data in this instance. However, User A may not trust User B enough to hand over login information to all of User A's accounts (e.g., User A's image sharing account may include images not meant to be viewed by User B). User B may also turn out to be not as reliable or trustworthy as expected after gaining access to User A's accounts.